Kevin Harrington and St. Martin

[Murderistic]

Interesting thread.  I was the person that brought Kevin to the event, and I did so for several reasons.  I won't bore you with all of them, but here are a few relevant to this discussion:

Kevin Harrington has sold over $4,000,000,000+ in products.

Kevin has been in talks with me & my partners  to do an infomercial deal regarding cryptocurrency, which is highly significant.

Kevin has been educated about Bitcoin by myself and my partners for the last 8 months, and is getting comfortable with putting money into bringing it more mainstream.

Kevin has some massive connections in many industries that could yield some major backing for palatable mainstream adoption of services built on Bitshares DAC - such as Bitshares Music...Imagine all of the recording industry contacts that could be brought to the table from that alone.  There are many implications from this alone.

The Saint Martin mastermind was intended to yield very specific results, all of which were met from all parties that attended.  It was meant to bring some people that are powerful marketers, together with those that understand Bitcoin and Blockchain - to educate them and get them on board with the overall message.  The idea is that once we have people like that on in our corner, to advocate and educate...then the efforts of this amazing team of individuals will be amplified 1000x over.

We hit that out of the park.  Brian has been 100% integral to making that happen, and is working actively with several of us to get this project to another level. 

Very big win guys.  Congrats.

[jae208]

 

When you set emotion aside and think about the issues, many of the topics brought up by Adam are legitimate.

[jamesc]

Kevin Harrington of Shark Tank fame.

I have to admit, as a geek, I really got into an infomercial.  After all, played well, they can be educational and really don't have to have distractions like commercial driven TV.  It was http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Amen behind the infomercial.  I still use his views on ADHD and now have something I can really impress upon people that I talk to.

I can see a Bitshares coin on infomercial.  There is a lot to learn on this topic.  There is a coin design that hides it private key until you tell it to reveal it.  Once revealed it is always revealed.  One can buy a physical coin with good confidence that I can not be spent until activated (like a scratch off).  I could use one of those for my collection...

[GaltReport]

This meeting was not about bringing in whales, it was about bringing in partners to help reach our target audience.   Sure these guys have money, but what we value more than their money is their ability to drive SEO and sales over the internet in a manner that was able to earn them more than the market cap of BTSX.   These guys are now in our camp, own BTS X and PTS, and are actively developing a plan to apply their internet marketing skills toward driving the price through greater awareness.

So what has Brian done?  He has helps us build friendships with the people that have skills we need.  This is far better than having him attempt to do these things himself.

Why does it take so long?  Because it is like finding developers and finding other talent, it just takes months to do.  Now that BTS X is out the marketers have a much easier job and something tangible to sell.  Watch out.

I have a suggestion.
Dan, perhaps you should think of restructuring the hierarchy of roles and responsibilities then. It sounds like Brian is providing more of a business development or human resources role and not a Director of Marketing role. It seems obvious at this point that the person in charge of directing the marketing of something as complex bitshares needs to have a strong authority and strategy over all communication channels and community building, and intimate understanding and devotion to digital marketing (ie: a Bytemaster or Toast dedicated to marketing).

 Perhaps it is simply a matter of a wrong title and the unfair expectations that are attached to it.

[bytemaster]

Did I3 sell shares to Kevin and others privately?

It looks like China did most of the buying during the spike.

I don't think Kevin has bought anything at this time.   I am fairly certain that only a few small transactions were made this week by this team.  So Brian was wrong about them moving the market.   

I will ask the team to stop making statements about things they cannot know, especially when it comes to markets.   

I am also fairly certain that if someone like Kevin wanted to get in he would go through a broker and not deal with BTER or BTC38 directly. 

[bitbro]

Did I3 sell shares to Kevin and others privately?

It looks like China did most of the buying during the spike.

[changematey]

I started out reading this thread with a fist pump about what Brian has achieved. It slowly turned into a disappointment, then a "not this again" -- there have been many lynch threads; allegedly one even by a 3I employee asking about Brian's contributions. Then came another mob after Adam.

Now most probably I am gonna be flamed for this but in all this one of the major points got dropped. Here's the statement: "if you noticed the 20% bump this morning- that was these guys".

Now here's what a post (I guess not part of everyone "agrees Brian is doing a great job") said:

i am not conviced.

the buying pressure came from the chinese community. over 75% of the tradingvolume was in btsx/cyn. it was like the same days before, there were the selling pressure from chinese. so i hope Kevin will get involved, but i am certian he has not bought in the last 2 days a significant amount of btsx.

Now I don't have any proof/data to back what the guy said but I have no reason to doubt him. While everyone was busy bashing Adam they forgot to answer this:

The original post in this thread feels like it's trying to imply causation for things it doesn't seem to be connected to like the price movement and the fact that it was mentioned in a few articles.  I've been talking to lots of people about Bitshares including journalists who then go on to talk about it because it's interesting, but I'm just some schlub - Did you actually work with those authors to get Bitshares mentioned or are you just also noting that elsewhere in the ecosystem this happened?

I am no expert in marketing or sales but the "implying causation" like what Brian did in his first post is certainly not correct. But thats just me.

[luckybit]

We need to get some celebrities to use and endorse Bitshares. Nothing makes a product popular faster than celebrity endorsements. It seems a lot of the bad press on Bitcoin and similar technologies is based around who is using it.
 
http://www.coindesk.com/hip-hop-icon-nas-coinbase-age-of-bitcoin/

Celebrities are paid all the time to endorse products, same can be done for BTS.  Maybe Brian has thought about this possibilty already?

i am beginning to see brian as more of a biz dev guy than a true blue marketer, and frankly i think those skills are much more important at this stage in the game

i do wish Brian would engage with users on this forum a bit more, and i wish he would put a bit more effort into making relevant information easy to find on here... but my complaints aside, this is still an early stage startup and there are only so many hats a guy can wear at once

       

It's not enough to pay them to endorse the product but they actually have to use it and be seen using it. Like Twitter or Beats Audio.

[bitcoinba]

This meeting was not about bringing in whales, it was about bringing in partners to help reach our target audience.   Sure these guys have money, but what we value more than their money is their ability to drive SEO and sales over the internet in a manner that was able to earn them more than the market cap of BTSX.   These guys are now in our camp, own BTS X and PTS, and are actively developing a plan to apply their internet marketing skills toward driving the price through greater awareness.

So what has Brian done?  He has helps us build friendships with the people that have skills we need.  This is far better than having him attempt to do these things himself.

Why does it take so long?  Because it is like finding developers and finding other talent, it just takes months to do.  Now that BTS X is out the marketers have a much easier job and something tangible to sell.  Watch out.

I have a suggestion.
Dan, perhaps you should think of restructuring the hierarchy of roles and responsibilities then. It sounds like Brian is providing more of a business development or human resources role and not a Director of Marketing role. It seems obvious at this point that the person in charge of directing the marketing of something as complex bitshares needs to have a strong authority and strategy over all communication channels and community building, and intimate understanding and devotion to digital marketing (ie: a Bytemaster or Toast dedicated to marketing).

 Perhaps it is simply a matter of a wrong title and the unfair expectations that are attached to it.

[bytemaster]

This meeting was not about bringing in whales, it was about bringing in partners to help reach our target audience.   Sure these guys have money, but what we value more than their money is their ability to drive SEO and sales over the internet in a manner that was able to earn them more than the market cap of BTSX.   These guys are now in our camp, own BTS X and PTS, and are actively developing a plan to apply their internet marketing skills toward driving the price through greater awareness.

So what has Brian done?  He has helps us build friendships with the people that have skills we need.  This is far better than having him attempt to do these things himself.

Why does it take so long?  Because it is like finding developers and finding other talent, it just takes months to do.  Now that BTS X is out the marketers have a much easier job and something tangible to sell.  Watch out.

[soniq]

We need to get some celebrities to use and endorse Bitshares. Nothing makes a product popular faster than celebrity endorsements. It seems a lot of the bad press on Bitcoin and similar technologies is based around who is using it.
 
http://www.coindesk.com/hip-hop-icon-nas-coinbase-age-of-bitcoin/

Celebrities are paid all the time to endorse products, same can be done for BTS.  Maybe Brian has thought about this possibilty already?

i am beginning to see brian as more of a biz dev guy than a true blue marketer, and frankly i think those skills are much more important at this stage in the game

i do wish Brian would engage with users on this forum a bit more, and i wish he would put a bit more effort into making relevant information easy to find on here... but my complaints aside, this is still an early stage startup and there are only so many hats a guy can wear at once

       

[luckybit]

I don't even really know what to say guys.  Invictus has done a terrible job with branding and marketing.  It is ever changing, it is poorly explained and it is exceptionally confusing even to people who are invested in Invictus much less those who have never heard of the product.  Do you disagree?

I'm a PTS, AGS and BTSX holder and I don't understand the structure.  Why is that not a problem?  How much has been paid to Brian, and what has been accomplished by it?  I literally introduced Brian and Daniel, I am not out to shoot myself in the foot - But I also feel like I've been pretty complacent for the last six months while Brian has produced really very little output that I've seen and I am asking for clarity.

It would be great if you guys would take a step back from your investment and ask critical questions.  Mostly this forum is ideation and celebration (because we're all going to be rich and/or change the world) really regardless of whether the circumstances justify it.

The only time I seem to hear from Brian are threads like this and so I am asking what he is doing when he is not posting threads like this about very recent victories.

Do YOU understand what Brian does? Please, explain it to me.

I think that marketing requires measurable success. What should we use to measure the success of the marketing campaign? Market cap?

So Brian is responsible for raising the market cap. Perhaps his strategy will pay off if he can bring in enough whales but right now the meeting in St. Martin just happened. I'll at least wait a while to see if it's having a measurable effect on the price.

On the grass roots marketing there isn't enough coordination. I think we can do a lot better.

[luckybit]

So I really really really am not trying to be a dick here, I want to understand what Brian actually does because I don't see it and Director of Marketing seems like it should have obvious, public results.   Where are they?

Sigh... 

I miss the old Adam.  The one who brought me to bitshares.  I wonder how he's doing.

Brian did something that deserves a high five...so I for one will be giving him one.  Sure it took some time, but he is enlisting people who compliment the project.  His actions have amplified bitshares' marketing and made it so he can focus on bringing people together.  As far as the whales, they came after the tech was built because the tech is now showing it can scale to enterprise level (something bitcoin has been banging its head against for how long?) Can't we just leave it at "good job brian" for the time being? 

Thanks for your hard work Brian...and to I3--enjoy your weekend.  You deserve it.

Well said. Some people just don't understand marketing and the need for it. From my experience in other industries, some marketing people are invaluable. Others are simply really good at wasting money. I have not felt that way with Brian, who has been engaged with this and with us all the way. Baseball metaphor: we're in the 2nd inning of a 9 inning game. The middle of our order hasn't even come up to bat yet and he wants to pass judgment on the team's performance. Wait for the DACs and then you'll see what this investment has yielded; Brian has been building all the way.

We need to get some celebrities to use and endorse Bitshares. Nothing makes a product popular faster than celebrity endorsements. It seems a lot of the bad press on Bitcoin and similar technologies is based around who is using it.
 
http://www.coindesk.com/hip-hop-icon-nas-coinbase-age-of-bitcoin/

[solaaire]

i hear you Adam. I've been a bit puzzled as to what Brian has been doing behind the scenes as well

it seems like he goes to meetings, produces educational videos, and helps get webpages online

unfortunately he has been ineffective at generating buzz on the internet so far. he has also not been very effective at brand management either; the ecosystem is about as complex and confusing as ever and the release of Invictus first real product is more akin to an open beta than an actual launch. our most popular and effective way of promoting the BitShares ecosystem, this forum, is neglected in terms of marketing. updates are scattered, stickied content is out of date, and new users are still forced to participate in a multi-day scavenger hunt  in order to figure out WTF is going on. this is not good marketing, nor a well crafted message, and I doubt Brian would disagree

but to be fair, BitShares' incredible complexity is not Brian's fault by any stretch of the imagination. one of the biggest challenges facing BitShares, and ALL crypto for that matter, is communicating its value to the everyman. it is clear that invictus does not have the manpower or the knowhow to do this, YET...  But really, no cryptocurrency does, not even bitcoin.

in light of this latest news, i think its pretty obvious what brian has been doing behind the scenes; catering to bigger fish. and to be real its probably the right move. a partnership like this gives invictus an opportunity to focus on its core business, developing software, while letting other people with proven marketing expertise step in and make the products and brands friendly and accessible. i am willing to bet brian will also leverage this opportunity to learn and build marketing capabilities internally as well, he'd be crazy not to.

i am beginning to see brian as more of a biz dev guy than a true blue marketer, and frankly i think those skills are much more important at this stage in the game

i do wish Brian would engage with users on this forum a bit more, and i wish he would put a bit more effort into making relevant information easy to find on here... but my complaints aside, this is still an early stage startup and there are only so many hats a guy can wear at once

[tonyk]

so why not see his feedback/criticism/efforts ... for the good it has to offer?

Ooo believe me I do see it for that.
I have a whole thread dedicated (well partly) to his priceless contributions to humanity.
https://bitsharestalk.org/index.php?topic=6476.0